Thank you, Mom!
I have so many good memories of my Mom from when I was a child that I hardly know where to begin when listing them.
She was the glue that held our family together. She took care of us all. She was the organizer and the keeper of all the daily details. She was a stay at home mom, and she was always there for us when we needed her. She did all the cooking and cleaning and laundry and much of the gardening too.
Every summer she put package after package of corn, peas, green beans, lima beans, and carrots into the freezer for us for over the winter. She canned tomato juice. She lined the shelves in the basement with jars of her homemade strawberry and raspberry jam and cherry jelly from the fruits we grew in our yard.
She made sure we had a good breakfast each morning before we caught the bus to school and quite often had warm-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies and a cold glass of milk waiting for us when we came back home. This after school snack would tide us over until Dad came home from work. She would then have a hot dinner prepared for us to share together as a family---EVERY night.
She was there to get us to and from our after school activities. Whatever we needed for school, whether it was to have permission forms signed for field trips, cupcakes for a class party, or materials on hand for school projects, she made sure we had them. She read to us and encouraged us to read on our own. She bought us whatever books we wanted from the Scholastic reader flyers that were sent home by the school. We always had shelves full of books on hand to read whenever we wanted. She firmly believed in the importance of reading and education.
I remember one year in middle school, each student was assigned a state for a rather extensive report. I was assigned the state of Utah. The teacher I had came up with the brilliant (?) idea to have us all make and bring in a bas-relief sculptured map of our assigned state. She gave us a recipe to make a sort of gritty play dough from flour, salt, water and food coloring. Oh my, what a mess that whole project was! My Mom was a trooper though. She helped me make the dough and admired the monstrosity that I created. It was supposed to be a map of Utah showing the terrain of the state. She drove me to and from school with it so I wouldn't have to carry it on the bus. I was afraid the bigger kids would make fun of my project (and believe me, there were plenty of reasons why they might have done so!).
No matter what my brother, sister, and I did, or what our interests were, Mom was our biggest supporter and fan. She was there for us through marching band and pep club for my sister, through football and wrestling for my brother, and through Future Homemakers of America, drama club, and working on the school newspaper for me. She kept track of schedules and uniforms and practices for us all.
She made holidays and birthdays memorable with decorating and cookies and presents and special meals. She remembered them all.
She was creative and shared her talents with me. She made more afghans and sweaters than I can count down through the years. She taught me how to sew and crochet and cook.
I learned many things from her---more than I can list here. Most importantly, I learned from her example how to be a mother to my own children when the time came. If I am even half as good of a Mom as she was, I will know that I did my job well.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom! Thank you for all that you have done for me. I love you!
